Kairos is set in East Berlin in 1986. Katharina, a nineteen-year-old student, meets Hans, a married writer in his fifties, on a bus, and they begin a passionate and unequal affair. Jenny Erpenbeck follows the relationship as the German Democratic Republic ends, with the Berlin Wall coming down in 1989. She shows how personal love and political change intertwine, as Hans's possessiveness grows and the couple's letters, diaries and other documents show the past being rewritten. The book considers how the end of the state alters memory and love.
It is for readers who like literary fiction about history, politics and love in Germany. If you want to see how a collapsing country feels from within a private relationship, it will interest you.
Deep, inward-looking and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2021
- Language
- EN
